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7/27/2013

Here come a few perhaps uncharacteristic posts for this
blog, but they are connected to both Tech and Ed.They are about two topics that have
influenced the last few years of my life.Two topics I have been exploring: 1. Passion driven education and 2.
gratitude.

This TED Talk by Sean Aiken entitled, What Makes You Come Alive,
reminds me of some of the questions I have for pre-service teachers.Why are you here?Teaching is NOT an easy field.At the end of the day of prepping more hours
than one wants to admit, sacrificing time with family, friends, and even self,
there are typically no accolades.In
fact, the antithesis too frequently awaits; there can be critiques—from students,
parents, administrators, colleagues, and self, even from the best or maybe
especially from the best.As teachers we
may have the best intentions and feel ready to change the system, but the path
to do this is challenging and quite frankly isn’t the right path for all. So,
if you are entering this field, know why!If you do-- if you know, I’ll go out on a limb and say you won’t
regret it because the bonuses and benefits are many.

All of this is spurred on by the fact that I just wrapped up
working with a few college students who have the potential to be AMAZING
educators!(See the video below.) If
they choose teaching as a profession, they will rock.How do we offer our youth experiences beyond
the classroom walls to experience their passions that may turn into hobbies, jobs, careers,
lives lived?So they KNOW,“That’s my sentence. That’s where I belong!”

You Go Pedro! If you ever forget why, because we all do; I will be one of many who will remind you.

To take this a step further into the realm of public
education and tech today, I stumbled upon this site. I’m not sure where the
project is at this time, but the ideas that are within the site should make those
who know why they are in the profession stop and think.Redefining
Education.

7/08/2013

What's a worn out teacher to do when teaching jobs line up back-to-back with minimal time to prep for the upcoming one? Look to the kids for inspiration and solutions of course!

Here's how the young author of the series, The Teacher Should See This, came to my aid. The task at hand was to find an iPad app or two to support learning in a summer camp with 150-200 high school students, to give them a voice, and document some of their experiences. Within a few hours, she selected the iMovie app, found a few how-to videos, and set off to make her own video on a Where I Am From Poem theme.

It's showtime! Enjoy.

Now, the real question is if the teacher can pull this off. It's the beginning of the first week, so there will be an upcoming post. Here's the beginnings of a three week summer camp journey where I meet with the students for less than four hours for the video/blogging part, but learn so much from them! Kids are amazing people.